Day 9 - Glen Innes to Newcastle to Sydney

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I woke up at 6:43am and decided to shower and start the process of the 4 of us to get on the road at a decent time in the morning. We headed to McDonald’s for breakfast since they had free Wi-Fi and it was a quick breakfast to get on the road. We had over 7 hours of driving ahead of us today if we end up in Sydney, as we left it open depending on what we found along the way. We were on the road by 8:15am.

About 20 minutes out of Glen Innes I decided to plug in a bridal shops address in Newcastle to see the time of arrival and the distance. The Garmin then directed us on almost 3 hours of back country roads of the shortest arrival to Newcastle. It sure was lots of different scenery and lots of sheep, steep inclines and declines also a few one lane bridges.

We stopped for lunch around 12:15 in a small town, Gloucester, the restaurant was called Café 57. We had awesome sandwiches and continued on our way to Newcastle. I was very tired as I didn’t sleep well the night before and knew it was about another 1 ½ hrs to 2 hrs more of riding. I tried to fall asleep in the back seat of the car but the roads were so bumpy that I didn’t get much rest.

Once we got to Newcastle and found a bridal shop us girls said 45 minutes and we would meet the guys back at the car to see if we needed more time. As we walked down the street we noticed there were plenty of other bridal shops besides the one I found online.

The first store in Newcastle I tried on about 6 dresses and really liked 2 of them as they were very casual yet had flare to them. Both dresses had one shoulder straps as did one of my favorites from the first bridal shop that we went to in Gosford.

Did I mention I am only trying on bridesmaids dress that come in white, off white or ivory? I have never wanted a big fancy wedding , would like to keep costs as low as possible and the least amount of stress.

As Mom and I walked down the street we walked past the few designer bridal stores that had dresses over $3-$4,000 gowns. Not my idea of budget wedding. We saw a dress shop across the street that had a $50 off sale going on.

As we walked in we were greeted by a salesperson named Lissa. I advised her that I was the bride and I was looking for a bridesmaid dress that would come in white or ivory. She advised me that they made all their dresses their in the Sydney metro area so they could do that for all the dresses in the store.

I found two dresses that I liked and tried on, the second one was better than the first. While I was trying on the dresses Mom and Lissa found one more dress for me to try on. I then put that dress on before I even tried on the other dress I had picked out. Just as I was thinking of my favorite dresses I tried on so far, Lissa suggested one more dress. At this point Mom went out to the street to advise Dad and Pete that I was almost done as they were patiently waiting in the car.

I tried on the last dress Lissa picked out and it was IT. I LOVED it and knew when I put it on that this was the dress. The sale was $50 off any dress if you ordered it in January and it takes 4-5 months for the dress to be made and sent to the client. Once I had the dress on I knew it was meant to be since I LOVED it, it was in the price range I wanted to spend, it was $50 off and it would be sent to my parents home by end of April/May.

So the dress is ordered and no more dress shopping for me. I was very excited that I found the dress, knew my size and didn’t have to worry about fittings, colors, etc since I had the dress on and saw the color swatches in person. Plus Mom was able to experience it all with me. What a relief and one more thing done on the To Do List.

Believe me, I am trying to keep this process as simple as possible and remaining down to earth. No Bridezilla Wanted Here.

We then got in the car while Pete and Dad decided we should drive to Sydney since there wasn’t much in Newcastle to see. It was 5pm and we pulled over to McDonald’s for the free WiFi to book the same apartment we stayed at before in Sydney. Mom called on Skype from our net book and the apartment was available and we named the price that we received last week. Nice and it has laundry to Pete and I were able to get our laundry done before heading to New Zealand.

After we arrived in Sydney we unloaded the car, returned the rental car and ate the Ribs Special that we had last Wednesday night on the Darling Harbour, near our apartment. This was our last night in Australia and with my parents.

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Photos

Car ride back to Sydney
Yes the steering wheel is on the opposite side

Comments

[Sarah]

That is exciting that you found your dress!!